Obesity is associated with an increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance among black and white women.

Obesity and black race have been associated with excess risk of multiple myeloma. The association of obesity with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is unknown. Further, it is not known whether the increased risk of multiple myeloma and MGUS in blacks is related to socioeconomic status, genetic susceptibility, or both. We screened 1000 black and 996 white women (range, 40-79 years) of similar socioeconomic status for MGUS; the aim of the study was to assess MGUS risk in relation to obesity and race. A total of 39 (3.9%) blacks and 21 (2.1%) whites had MGUS. On multivariate analysis, obesity (odds ratio [OR] = 1.8; P = .04), black race (OR = 1.8; P = .04), and increasing age (> 55 vs < 43 years; OR = 2.5; P = .03) were independently associated with an excess risk of MGUS. Our findings support the hypothesis that obesity is etiologically linked to myelomagenesis. The 2-fold excess of MGUS among blacks compared with whites of similar socioeconomic status supports a role for susceptibility genes in MGUS.

[1]  Terry M Therneau,et al.  Prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. , 2006, The New England journal of medicine.

[2]  N. Munshi.  Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: genetic vs environmental etiologies. , 2007, Mayo Clinic proceedings.

[3]  W. Blattner,et al.  Changes in mortality rates from multiple myeloma. , 1980, The New England journal of medicine.

[4]  R. Hayes,et al.  Socioeconomic status and multiple myeloma among US blacks and whites. , 2000, American journal of public health.

[5]  A. Dudley,et al.  Increased incidence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in blacks and its age-related differences with whites on the basis of a study of 397 men and one woman in a hospital setting. , 1990, The Journal of laboratory and clinical medicine.

[6]  R. Kyle,et al.  Multiple myeloma. , 2008, Blood.

[7]  R. Kyle,et al.  Drug therapy: Multiple myeloma , 2004 .

[8]  B. Weiss,et al.  Patterns of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma in various ethnic/racial groups: support for genetic factors in pathogenesis , 2009, Leukemia.

[9]  U. Mellqvist,et al.  Risk of plasma cell and lymphoproliferative disorders among 14621 first-degree relatives of 4458 patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in Sweden. , 2009, Blood.

[10]  J. Fraumeni,et al.  Waldenström's macroglobulinemia , 1998, Cancer.

[11]  H. Asaoku,et al.  Autocrine generation and requirement of BSF-2/IL-6 for human multiple myelomas , 1988, Nature.

[12]  N. Weiss,et al.  Incidence of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. , 1993, Blood.

[13]  R. Hoover,et al.  Risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and subsequent multiple myeloma among African American and white veterans in the United States. , 2005, Blood.

[14]  Kenneth C. Anderson,et al.  Criteria for the classification of monoclonal gammopathies, multiple myeloma and related disorders: a report of the International Myeloma Working Group , 2003, British journal of haematology.

[15]  D. Vågerö,et al.  Mortality and Social Class in Sweden — Exploring a New Epidemiological Tool , 1989, Scandinavian journal of social medicine.

[16]  Noel R. Rose,et al.  Manual of clinical laboratory immunology , 2002 .

[17]  R. Hayes,et al.  Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) consistently precedes multiple myeloma: a prospective study. , 2009, Blood.

[18]  L. Melton,et al.  Prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance among men in Ghana. , 2007, Mayo Clinic proceedings.

[19]  M. Zwahlen,et al.  Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies , 2008, The Lancet.

[20]  D. Prager,et al.  Multiple myeloma cells are protected against dexamethasone‐induced apoptosis by insulin‐like growth factors , 1997, British journal of haematology.

[21]  L. Garfinkel,et al.  A case‐control study of multiple myeloma nested in the american cancer society prospective study , 1989, International journal of cancer.

[22]  V. Beral,et al.  Increasing trends of multiple myeloma mortality in England and Wales; 1950-79: are the changes real? , 1982, Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

[23]  E. Riboli,et al.  Anthropometric characteristics and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) , 2008, Haematologica.

[24]  W. Zheng,et al.  Southern community cohort study: establishing a cohort to investigate health disparities. , 2005, Journal of the National Medical Association.

[25]  J. Cerhan,et al.  Anthropometric Characteristics and Risk of Multiple Myeloma , 2005, Epidemiology.

[26]  U. Mellqvist,et al.  Patterns of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors among 37,838 first‐degree relatives of 13,896 patients with multiple myeloma in Sweden , 2009, International journal of cancer.

[27]  D. Dunger,et al.  Association between Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I , 2004, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.